


Origins

by Cutekittenlady



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, first meeting fic, lotacxa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 08:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15881931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cutekittenlady/pseuds/Cutekittenlady
Summary: How Acxa met Lotor





	Origins

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for tautologee on tumblr.

Dobagah was neither glorious nor comfortable. The planet lay on the far outer rims of the Galra Empire where the pirates, bounty hunters, and other ne’er-do-wells could roam far from the eyes of any imperial soldier. It was a lawless wasteland where only the most unscrupulous could survive.

It was also the closest thing Acxa had to a home.

She had been born here, and grown up navigating the twisting back alleys. Most of her skills she’d gained surviving amongst the many gangs and turf wars. Any acquaintances she had (friends were a luxury Acxa simply did without) frequented the same nunvilleries and toxic cesspools she herself was often found in.

_ In all likelihood I’ll die here. _ Acxa mused to herself as she sipped a particularly bad batch of nunvil.  _ If that’s not the definition of home I don’t know what is. _

Yet she knew that that wasn't quite true. This planet had been home once. Back when her parents were alive and she wasn’t quite so alone.

Things hadn’t been easier. There hadn’t been enough food to go around, they never slept in the same place two nights in a row, and Acxa was fairly certain her parents hadn’t been the most law-abiding citizens in the empire. The struggles had been the same, but her parents presence had made it all more bearable somehow. Now, they were both long gone, leaving Acxa behind to pick up the pieces as well as the debts.

“That’ll be five GAC.” The Unilu behind the counter thrust one of his skinny hands into Acxa’s face expectantly.

She stared at the outstretched hand and raised an eyebrow.

“Last time it was only three.”

The unilu barman snorted. “Shipments aren’t coming in quickly enough. Gotta raise the price.”

He then leaned over the counter and spoke in a quiet more menacing tone. “We aren’t going to have a problem here are we?”

Acxa glared. 

For just a split moment, she thought about how easy it would be to slam the barmans head into the counter and rush out the door before anyone could react. How there were literally thousands of other nunvilleries on Dobagah she could go to. How, in all likelihood, no one would even remember her face or bother to look for her. Then she thought about whether or not the temporary satisfaction and the five GAC would really be worth it.

With a sigh, she laid the currency on the counter, finished off her subpar drink, and stood to go.

“Pleasure doing business with ya!” Acxa heard the Unilu call after her as she headed for the door. Then, under his breath, “Filthy half-breeds.”

She paused in the doorway, her teeth clenching, temptation pulling at the edge of her mind. Just turning around, firing off a shot, and running away; she could do it all under a single tick. It wouldn’t even have to hit anyone, just shatter a few of the bottles on the wall behind the bar. That alone would send the message.

_ No _ , She decided, ducking out the door.  _ It wouldn’t be worth it. It wouldn’t be… right. _

It was a childish thing to cling to. Doing the right thing. Especially given that Acxa herself wasn’t even sure what the right thing to do even was most of the time.

How did she know that in that moment the right thing to do wasn’t to just blow the whole of the Unilu’s watered down, poorly stocked, overpriced nunvil to high hell? It was certainly something she’d  _ wanted  _ to do. If she’d done it, then maybe the barman would have thought a little more about how he addressed armed customers from now on?

Then again, it was equally likely he’d have just seen it as another act of aggression on behalf of the Galra rather than some type of karmic punishment.

Either way she was down five GAC, but still had a partially charged pistol. That wasn’t so bad as far as dealings on Dobagah went. 

Least she wasn’t dead… For now.

Her long term chances had been looking grim as of late. The debts her parents had racked up in their lifetime had naturally fallen to Acxa upon their deaths. That had been nearly three decaphoebs ago and, try as she might, Acxa had yet to fully pay it off.

The Empire’s focus had begun shifting back to Dogabah making the local warlords nervous. With the future of all the gangs, smuggling rings, and pirate hierarchies now in jeopardy all the debt collectors were becoming eager to collect or otherwise cut loose ends.

Acxa was one of those loose ends. She was going to have to either pay off her debt in full within the next phoeb (a mathematical impossibility) or otherwise take her chances and leave Dogabah for good. Which was easier said than done.

Every take off and landing pad on the planet belonged to one of the local warlords. Nothing and nobody came to or left Dogabah without one of them knowing about it. Stowing away, while a plausible strategy, was an action that came with a guaranteed death sentence if caught. 

Of course, if she stayed, her best chance at survival would be to go underground and try to live off of whatever scraps people threw down the nearest sewage drain. All while praying that her debt collector didn’t round the corner and recognize her one day. Given that kind of indignity, Acxa wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have openly welcomed death.

But what other options did she have?

There didn’t seem to be any way out of her situation that didn’t involve living in squalor or a high likelihood of painful death. Time was running out. If she couldn’t think of a way out soon then there would be no hope. She’d just be another person taken off the streets whom no one would remember outside of a passing vague recollection.

Acxa stopped in her tracks as she caught fragments of conversation from just around the corner.

“If I were you, I would advise moving on.”

A round of bemused laughter prompted Acxa to sidle along the wall and peer around the corner.

There were four of them. 

Three larger aliens, and one smaller one in a hooded cloak.

She didn’t recognize the smaller one. Even in the darkened alley she could make out a shade of purple skin, and a few wisps of white hair. His armor, however, she couldn’t recognize as belonging to any of the local gangs. The man was a complete unknown.

The other three however…

“Well we  _ advice  _ that you drop the valuables. Then we might let you move along.”

One of the other two laughed.

“I believe you mean  _ advise _ .” The stranger sighed then said in an exasperated tone that Acxa couldn’t help but find inappropriate for the situation. “If you can not answer my question then get out of my way. I have more important things to do then entertain you three.”

There was an irritated growl. “You won’t get away with mocking us  _ beanpole _ .”

Pulling her head back around the corner, Acxa tried to pretend that she was away somewhere else. Of all the alley ways she could have chosen to go down, she just had to pick the one that was filled with three of the members of the gang she personally owed money to. Should they catch her, all of Acxa’s concerns regarding her future would become incredibly irrelevant.

If she left now, there was a chance she would go unnoticed. Then she could find some nice empty drain somewhere with minimal leaking and hide out until some other opportunity for escape presented itself to her. The indignity didn’t feel quite so unbearable now that she was actually so close to her own untimely fate.

If Acxa was ever going to have a hope for a longer future, she had to go now.

“We’re giving you one more chance  _ half-breed _ .”

“You have made your choice.” The strangers voice had sharpened to a razor edge as his hand rested on the hilt of a blade. “Now have mine.”

All three drew their own weapons and advanced.

The gunshot struck the first. Sending him careening into a pile of garbage.

A stunned silence followed.

Then all hell broke loose.

She should have known better. If Acxa had just minded her own business and walked away, she wouldn’t be on the run now. The sounds of her enemies closing in behind her, killing intent practically emanating from their pores, were a harsh reminder of that.

When they’d called that stranger  _ half-breed  _ something had stirred deep inside her. Some buried sense of rage that the alcohol and need to survive had long since abandoned. 

For a split moment, when she’d fired that shot, Acxa had felt some kind of relief. As though some long carried burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

That all came crashing down around her as she now faced a both figurative, as well as literal, dead end.

“YOU.” 

Acxa stood with her back against the wall as the two remaining gang members advanced on her. The alleyway was too narrow to slip by, they were both armed, and she wasn’t certain just how many charges she had left in her gun.

“I should’ve known it was you. Filthy half-breeds gotta stick together, don’t they?”

“Except for your boyfriend. He’s probably half way across town by now.”

Of course he was. Stranger though he was, the other half-Galra had to have had enough intelligence to know when to run.

Unlike her.

With a steadying breath, Acxa charged her pistol. At least if she went down, she would do so with a fight.

The closest gang member, smirked at her as he raised his makeshift weapon over his head. 

There was a thunk.

The gang members face convulsed in confusion before he crashed to the ground, a sword protruding from his back. His companion stared at his fallen associate in horror.

An opening.

Acxa took it.

She fired a pistol blast at the other gang member, just barely missing his head. He stumbled backwards against the nearby wall, looked between his two assailants, before running out of the alley with a scream.

Her eyes watched him go before lowering to the lifeless form at her feet.

“Are you alright?”

She watched with some semblance of horror as the stranger from before pulled the blade from the corpse.

“You… killed him.”

“Before he could kill you. Or me.”

Acxa raised her head and met her dark eyes with the stranger’s blue ones. His hood had fallen in the rush giving her a full view of a handsome face.

In that moment, there were many things she wanted to ask, but her mouth could only form one.

“Why did you save me?”

“I could ask the same thing and be much more justified in doing so.”

Taking her arm and pulling her up, the stranger guided her out of the alley in a hurry.

“But for now, it is best we go.”

“Go where? Who are you?”

“Preferably? Off planet. As to the who, you may call me Lotor. And yourself?”

Acxa couldn’t understand what was going on. Who this stranger was, why he had helped her, or even why she was allowing herself to be pulled along. But regardless of her confusion she answered.

“Acxa. My name is Acxa.”


End file.
